
t 



4l4l^ k't k-i*\i\ t 



Ipv^taneuin Bostonicnse* 



NOTES 



ON THE HISTORY OF 



THE OLD STATE HOUSE 



FORMERLY KNOWN AS 



The Town House in Boston — The Court House in Boston 

— The Province Court House — The State 

House — and the City Hall 



BY 



GEORGE H. MOORE, LL.D. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LENOX LICRAR-i- 



Read before the Boston IAN Society, May 12, 1885 



BOSTON : 
CUPPLES, UPHAM & CO. 

THE OLD CORNER BOOKSTORE. 
MDCCCLXXXV 



COl'VKIGHT, 1885, BV 

GE0R(;E H. MOORE. 



TROW'S 
NQ AND eOOKBINOtNG COMPANY, 
NEW YORK, 






THE OLD STATE HOUSE IN BOSTON. 

It has been my fortune, whether good or bad I need 
ot discuss now and here, to be much interested in the 
,aws and Legislative History of Massachusetts, and my 
studies and collections therein have been many and long- 
continued. Researches into the history of the earliest 
'.vs of New York naturally led to the comparison of 

temporary codes and statutes of Virginia and Massa- 

'setts, and for the work which I have done in these fas- 
.c .ing pursuits I have been amply rewarded by every 
•our's delight in every hour's study. The history of the 
laws involved that of the Records of the General Court, 
the Journals of the Legislature, and, incidentally, the 
Halls or places of legislation. I mention these facts as 
my apology for what may possibly be considered a tres- 
pass on the part of " an outside barbarian," not to say, 
"foreign devil," in setting forth the notes which I am 
about to read, on the history of the Old State House — 
whose walls are in great part still preserved as they were 
set up in 17 13, and whose general exterior features are 
well suggested in the restorations of 1881. Little as there 
is left of it which is genuine, it is the remainder of the 
most interesting historical building of its period in the 
United States; and well deserves the affectionate regard, 
not only of the citizens of Boston, but of all who love and 
cherish the memories of her honored and heroic past. 

As a citizen of New York, mindful of her history and 
traditions, I mourn over the ignorant, but not on that ac- 
count less criminal, indifference and neglect of the people 
who inhabited that city in 1812, when one of the most an- 
cient and venerable edifices on this continent was torn 



4 TJic Old State House in Boston. 

down and utterly destroyed from oft"tlie face of the earth, 
apparently without one word of protest or regret. That 
building was New York's City Hall, not Town House, for 
New York was a city before the conquest of New Nether- 
land, and has never been known as an luiglish town. 
Erected in 1700, the City Hall had been for more than 
three-quarters of a century identified with the public af- 
fairs not only of the municipality, but of the Province in 
which it was the most important structure for public pur- 
poses ; before the stirring era of the Revolution and the 
political changes of that period lent new interest to such 
a monument of historic memories. It is painful to recall 
them now, and most of all the consecration of that auspi- 
cious hour in which the government of the United States 
was put in motion by the inauguration of Washington on 
the 30th day of April, 1789. There are but two words to 
characterize the act of destruction of that edifice — ineffa- 
ble stupidity ! 

I am happy in the opportunity to discuss at this time 
a happier theme — the preservation of what remains of 
your " Old State House." 

The associations which may be recalled by the historian 
as strictly belonging to the site and the walls of this build- 
ing are of no ordinary interest, and can never be num- 
bered. I\Iy own memoranda would fill a volume, and 
from these I shall present a few only which may chal- 
lenge, and I trust deserve, special attention. It was a wise 
man who said : — " What can the man do, who cometh after 
the king ? Even that which hath been already done." 
I trust that I shall escape the judgment of foolishness in 
venturing to supplement the interesting and valuable re- 
searches of Mr. WlliTMORK, to whose untiring zeal as an 
antiquary this building owes its preservation ; and to 
whose skill and ability as a chief among your local histo- 
rians, its liistory will always be referred. 

Out of melancholy neglect and decay, it has been res- 
cued at last. Its old walls again rejoice to find within 
their embrace somcthin<j that tells of reverence for the 



The Old State House in Boston. 5 

past — honorable mention at least of the ancient features 
of their enclosure and the grand old memories with the 
burden of which they (but for shame) might have cried 
out upon the generations of men who have desecrated 
these holy places, defiling their precious associations by 
the mixture of things mean, and squalid, and unbecoming. 
The time was when Boston had a real pride in its Town 
House and place of council, and although its simple struct- 
ure and scanty decoration would never compare with the 
grand architecture and sculpture of the Hotels-de-Ville of 
the old towns of Europe, so full of precious meaning for 
all their populace — the memories and associations of the 
Old Town House were, from an early date, as they con- 
tinue to be, full of significance. The homely lines of the 
"Short Lamentation" elicited by the destruction of the 
first house in 171 1, make up in sincerity what they lack in 
poetic form and fire : 

" Our losing of our Great Exchange gives us a fearful wound, 
Some say that few such chambers in our kingdom can be found." 

The poem is a long one and very interesting — but this is 
all which relates to the first Court House. A second 
speedily rose upon the site of the first, within whose an- 
cient walls we now come together ; to recall something of 
their continuing history and the changes that have come 
into them and passed through them since their solid and 
enduring lines were laid in the substantial materials of 
which they were constructed nearly two centuries ago. 

The fire of December 9th, 1747, left nothing of the 
second Court House but the bare walls ; and the legisla- 
ture which was sitting at the time speedily terminated 
the session — after requesting the Selectmen of Boston to 
secure those walls from the weather by causing them to 
be covered with boards in the best and cheapest manner. 
They sat four days after the fire, and being then prorogued 
to the 3d February, 1748, met on that day at Faneuil Hall 
which had been promptly tendered by the Selectmen on 
the day of the fire for the service of the House. Gov- 



6 TJie Old State House in Boston. 

ernor Shirley, in his opening speech, duly reminded the 
General Court of the necessity for speedy action to repair 
or rebuild the Court House, and a week later the brisk 
debates commenced, of which the first result in the House 
of Representatives was a resolution that a Court House 
should be built in some other part of the Province than 
the Town of Boston, provided the Court agree upon the 
place — which was immediately followed by a resolution 
that Cambridge should be the place. 

On the two following days, February nth and I2th, 
after a good deal of manceuvring, the matter was recon- 
sidered, and a special committee was appointed to ex- 
amine and report what they might apprehend proper to 
be done respecting the repairing the late Court House or 
building a new House in ?uch place as should appear most 
convenient. The Chairman of that Committee was the 
Speaker of the House — afterwards so conspicuous in his- 
tory as Governor Hutchinson, and I may say at once that 
it was to him more than to any other man that the Town 
of Boston was indebted for keeping the Court House there. 

On the 17th February, he reported to the House that 
it was the opinion of the Committee that the late Court 
House be repaired ; and that the charge thereof should 
be borne agreeably to the last establishment : i.e., one 
half by the Province, the other half to be divided between 
the County of Suffolk and the Town of Boston. 

After debate, the report was rejected and by two 
successive votes it was resolved that the Court House 
should not be built in any part of Boston and that it 
should be built in the town of Roxbury. Whereupon a 
joint committee was resolved upon to report a proper 
place in Roxbury for the said house and to consider of 
dimensions as well as the method of providing its charge, 
and the resolution was sent to the Council for concur- 
rence, which was forthwith refused by a unanimous vote. 
After further debate the House again sent up the same 
proposition, substantiall)-. which met the same fate as the 
former. 



The Old State Hcnise in Boston. 7 

Upon receiving information of this result on the 19th 
February, the House ordered the further consideration 
of the subject to be referred to the next session of the* 
Court. 

On the 2d of March, the Governor again moved in the 
matter, urging the present and prospective inconven- 
iences they were suffering and hkely to suffer ; and the 
House upon the next day, to which they had postponed 
consideration of the Governor's Message, consented to 
reconsider their vote of delay. They then took a new 
departure by deciding that the old House should not be 
repaired, but that a new one should be built in the Town 
of Boston, and a joint committee was appointed (the 
Council concurring in this vote) to consider and report 
on a proper place in that town. 

In the afternoon of the following day the House was 
informed by their chairman of the joint committee that 
he was directed to propose to the House, that they should 
go at once to view the Common and Fort Hill and de- 
termine which was the most convenient place to build a 
new Court House in, as the said committee were divided 
in their sentiments upon that affair. 

After a debate the House refused to accept the report 
and postponed the consideration of the affair until the 
following Wednesday — the 9th of March. Upon that and 
the following day the result reached was the determina- 
tion to repair the late Court House — one-half the charges 
to be paid by the Province, one-fourth by the County of 
Suffolk, and one-fourth by the Town of Boston. A com- 
mittee was appointed to purchase materials, and to prepare 
a plan of the inside work, with an estimate of the charge, 
to be laid before the Court at the next session. The com- 
mittee very promptly purchased a great part of the ma- 
terials, and reported that fact to the House with their 
proposed plan, evidently to prevent any further vacilla- 
tion on the part of the House. An appropriation was 
immediately proposed, and the first grant for purchasing 
materials — ^lOO — was made on the 8th of April, 1748, 



8 The Old State House in Boston. 

and concurred in by the Council with the consent of the 
Governor on the followinj:^ day. 

The consideration of the plan reported was then made 
the special order for the following Tuesday, April 12th, 
at three o'clock. P.M., when, "after a debate," it was 
adopted. 

It should be observed here that this result was pre- 
cisely that which was proposed in Speaker Hutchinson's 
first report on the subject on the 17th February. 

Several attempts were made afterwards in the House to 
interfere with this determination, but they were unsuccess- 
ful ; and the work was carried on' to completion. The 
only important change in the plan first submitted and de- 
termined on was made on the 19th November, 1748, when 
a proposition by the Building Committee to enlarge the 
Representatives' Room in the Town House, then rebuild- 
ing, was agreed to by the House. 

This modification in the plan by which the Representa- 
tives' Room in the new Town House was enlarged was an 
obvious necessity. In 1728, there were 128 towns in the 
Province capable of sending Representatives, and in 1748, 
the number had increased to 153. 

The materials are scanty for the illustration of the plain 
official record of the controversy between Boston and the 
country party on this occasion ; but it is apparent that 
the major part of the House of Representatives was then 
averse to rebuilding the Court House in Boston, and dis- 
posed to build a house for the General Court in some 
town in the countr}\ The lines were very strictly drawn. 
All the efforts of the ]-5ostonians could not prevail for an 
entirely new structure ; and upon the test question whether 
a grant should be made for rebuilding the old one, the 
House was equally divided, and the Speaker gave his cast- 
ing voice in favor of the town. 

That Speaker was Thomas Hutchinson, who had and 
continued to " have still " (at a later period, when he found 
occasion to refer to these transactions) " a very good Af- 
fection for the Town of Boston." He used his influence 



The Old State House in Boston. 9 

in every way he could with propriety in favor of rebuild- 
ing the Court House in Boston. I take pleasure in recall- 
ing these obscure facts respecting one of the most gifted 
of her sons, who has had scant measure of justice in her 
history. 

The proceedings of the anti-Boston party in all this mat- 
ter to which I have referred were not the first of their 
kind. In January, 1739, a committee was appointed by 
the House of Representatives to consider, in the recess of 
the Court, of some proper place in some one of the Country 
Towns of the Province (not too remote from Boston) where- 
in to build a Court House for the use of the General As 
sembly, that so the public business may be attended to 
with more ease and freedom of the members, and be trans- 
acted with greater dispatch ; as also to project some 
proper plan for the building, and ways and means best to 
effect it — and make report at the next sitting of the Court. 

Accordingly, on the 21st April, 1739, the committee re- 
ported in favor of a new Court House at , and that 

two acres of land there be purchased for a site. They 
found with the help of their Architects that it would cost 
about ;^5,000, New Tenor. They presented two plans by 
the Architects, and gave their own opinion that the model 
should be drawn from both of them to suit the Court. 
They proposed to raise the money by an additional excise 
of twopence per gallon New Tenor on spirituous liquors 
for the space of six years to come — any deficiency to be 
made up by a tax on Polls and Estates the next year. 
The debate which ensued resulted in a postponement to 
the next Court. 

The movements of the anti-Boston party which I have 
detailed were not all to which I have to direct your atten- 
tion. The new building was hardly completed before a 
fresh proposition for a new Court House was made and 
determined upon by the General Court. 

Admiral Sir Peter Warren in August, 1749. offered to 
the Province of Massachusetts as a present the money he 
received as commissioner for handling the money due for 



lo Tlic Old State House in Boston. 

tlie Cape Breton Expedition. It was a handsome sum, 
and the Admiral conveyed with his offer an intimation of 
his wishes respecting its use by the Province. The intima- 
tion was disregarded, and the following proceedings took 
place in the General Court : 

On February 9th, 1751, ["i^Av/, That a Letter of Thanks 
from this Court for so generous a Benefaction (signed 
by the Secretary"), be sent to that Gentleman, and to 
inform him : That in order to perpetuate his Memory 
among us ; It is the Determination of this Court, that said 
Money be applied towards the building a Court House in 
some P/aee out of the Town of Boston , and where this Court 
may hereafter appoint. 

\- On February 19th, a vote of Council was brought down 
to dele the whole paragraph respecting the building a 
Court House to perpetuate his Memory, &c. The House 
made a further Amendment that the said House be erect- 
ed in the Town of Cambridge and adhered to their own 
vote as so amended, which was sent up for concurrence. 

On February 22d, the Council concurred in the Vote 
for Court House, at Cambridge, the Lieutenant-Governor 
signed it, &c., and on the same day a letter was author- 
ized by both branches, communicating " the Determina- 
tion of the Court, that the Building proposed to be erected 
shall always be known and called by the name of W'AR- 
REN HALL." 

The generous and sensible Admiral did not acquiesce 
in this extraordinary proposition, which therefore failed — 
and Cambridge, like other towns " not too far from Boston " 
did not have the Court House. I find a remark of " the 
o-ood Secretary " Willard, who conducted the correspond- 
ence in behalf of the General Court, which deserves 
quotation. He writes to the Admiral : "As their project 
for a Court House was much disliked by the wisest and 
most disinterested men, so the employment of the money 
for the Instruction of the Mohawk Children, as you have 
designed it, is I believe generally much approved of." 
, Nor are these I have noticed all the instances of the dis- 



The Old State House in Boston. 1 1 

position of a strong party in the Legislature to take the 
Court House out of Boston. The subject was revived in 
1754, when, on the 1 8th December, it was Ordered, That 
the House will take under consideration the affair of re- 
moving the Court House out of the Town of Boston, to- 
morrow at eleven o'clock in the forenoon. 

December 19th. The House, according to order, took 
under consideration the affair of Removing the Court 
House out of the Town of Boston ; and after a Debate 
had thereon, the question was put, " Whether there shall 
be erected a Court House out of the Tozon of Boston ? 
And it passed in the affirmative. 

And thereupon Resolved, That there shall be a Court 
House erected for the holding the General Assembly of 
this Province in some part of the Town of Watertoivn. 
Sent up for concurrence. 

It was also further 

Ordered, That Col. Brattle, Mr. John Hunt, and Judge 
Russell, with such as the Honorable Board join, be a Com- 
mittee to repair to the Town of Watertown to pitch upon a 
convenient Place whereon to erect a Court House for the 
holding of the General Assembly of this Province, inquire 
at what price the land suitable for said Building and its ac- 
commodations may be had, prepare a plan of the Building 
proposed, and report thereon to this Court as soon as may 
be. Sent up for concurrence. 

January 4th, 1755. Upon inquiry by the House, their 
messenger was informed that the Board had non-con- 
curred in the vote respecting a Court House. 

The last of the series of propositions of this sort which 
I have to mention was in 1787, June i6th, when another 
effort to remove the seat of Government from this town 
was made ; and a Committee appointed, who reported in 
favor of Concord, as a suitable place for a new Capitol. 

The political year 1749-50 was that in which the Court 
House, which had been rebuilt in fact upon and in the old 
walls of its predecessor, was reoccupied. I have not been 
able to ascertain the exact date, but a contemporary state- 



12 The Old State House in Boston. 

ment is, that on the 13th July, 1/49, the repairs were nearly- 
finished, and the Commissioners on the Land Bank were to 
meet in a room there on the 19th of that month. 

The first story was devoted as before to the uses of a 
public Exchange. Two offices were provided on that floor 
— of which the Eastern Office was duly assigned to the 
Clerk of the Superior Court, and the Western was occu- 
pied by the Secretary of the Province. These offices were 
on the Northern side of the building. A range of Doric 
pillars, ten in number, which supported the second floor 
and superstructure, gave a certain dignity to the open 
space wdiere the merchants most did congregate. 

The access to the second floor was by two staircases, 
known as the Eastern and Western staircases, and leading 
to the passages between the central chamber and the other 
two chambers respectively on the second floor. There 
was undoubtedly an entry-way and a convenient lobby in 
each. The three chambers were the Council Chamber 
at the I^^astern end, the Representatives' Chamber in the 
centre, and the Court Chamber at the Western end. Of 
these the Representatives' Chamber was undoubtedly the 
largest from the first and, as we shall see, it was subse- 
quently still further enlarged. No such division of the 
space on the second Jioor as the present existed at any time 
during the official use of the building- by the Legislature, 
Colonial, Pro7'incial, Revolutionary, or State. During the 
entire Colonial and Provincial i)eriods, there were three 
chambers or apartments which I have mentioned, with 
their respective lobbies, and at least two entries. The 
great increase in the number of representatives demand- 
ing more room for the House during the Revolution, the 
Representatives' Chamber was enlarged by taking in the 
Court Chamber — the Council Chamber still remaining the 
same ; and when the State Government was organized the 
Senate took possession of it — the Governor and Council 
being obliged to find quarters in the Province House, 
where were also kept at that time the offices of the Secre- 
tary and Treasurer. 



The Old State House in Boston. 13 

The upper portion of the building was left for several 
years in an unfinished state, and only gradually brought 
into use. I think there were two rooms at the respective 
Eastern and Western ends, which may have been provided 
at first; for, on the 14th February, 1756, " the Room in the 
Upper Story at the West End of the Court House " was 
duly appropriated by an order of Court to the use of com- 
mittees during the time of the Court's sitting. And 
on the 27th August in the same year, an order passed the 
House, that the Members for the Town of Boston be 
directed to cause one or more chambers in the upper story 
on the South side of the Court House to be finished for 
the accommodation of committees of the General Court. 

The Town of Boston also seems to have enjoyed addi- 
tional benefits besides their public walk and exchange on 
the first floor, by the assignment of one of those first up- 
per chambers for use by their officials. This appears from 
the following proceedings in the House of Representa- 
tives on the 

2ist Jan. 1761. Inasmuch as the Select-Men of the 
Town of Boston sit to do business in their Easternmost up- 
per chamber of the Court House, and the Small- Pox fre- 
quently breaking out, necessitates those Persons in whose 
Houses it is at first discovered, as well as many of the 
Physicians in the Town, to attend them ; this House ap- 
prehend it unsafe for such persons to pass and repass the 
Door of this House. Therefore, 

Voted, That said Select-Men be desired to remove their 
office from said Chamber, and provide themselves with 
some other suitable place, at the Charge of the Govern- 
ment, during the present Sitting of this Court. 

It is safe to say that a good degree of simplicity char- 
acterized the entire structure, both outside and inside. 
Its " neat cupola, sashed all round, and which on rejoic- 
ing days is illuminated," * was undoubtedly conspicuous ; 

* Less grandly described as "the Lantern on the Court House" in the or- 
der of the House (J^n. 30, 1756) for its illumination on the return of Gov. 
Shirley, after the campaign which followed Braddock's defeat. 



14 TJic Old State House in Boston. 

the Lion and the Unicorn challenged the loyal admiration, 
more modestly than now, of all beholders ; and the gen- 
eral exterior expression was, as it is to-day — neat and sub- 
stantial, in a simplicity of design and execution to which 
we might gladly return, if, with the old style of buildings 
for public purposes, we could restore the old style of pub- 
lic men to make use of them. 

The mottoes which James Otis prefixed to his Viiidiea- 
tion of the House of Representatives in 1762 was highly 
significant in his application of it to this place of their 
meeting : — 

" Let such, such only, tread this sacred Floor, 
Who dare to love their Country and be Poor." 

"Or good, tho' rich, humane and wise though great, 
Jove give l)ut these, we've naught to fear from Fate." 

One of the most conspicuous external features of the 
old State House is missing and its place is supplied by a 
large clock. I think this is a mistake. Instead of main- 
taining the modern horologe with its restless clock-fingers, 
the common mechanical timekeeper unconscious of the 
motion of the sun, I should have restored the old sun-dial 
— a much more ancient recorder of the flight of time, and 
undoubtedly longest in use on this building. The earliest 
engraving produced by the Committee on Restoration 
shows it, and its place there can be demonstrated from an 
earlier period still. To me " though not a native here and 
to the manner born" it seems no great stretch of the im- 
agination to recall the shadows of the ancient inhabitants 
of Boston, rejoicing in such an emblem of their ancient 
faith and fidelity : 

" True as the dial to the Sun, 
Although it be not shincd upon." 

During the administration of Ciovernor Pownall the en- 
thusiasm of the Province upon the conquest of Canada 



The Old State House in Boston. 15 

induced the legislature to vote a statue to the memory 
of General Wolfe, which was to have been erected at the 
east end of the Town House, in King Street. It is said 
that Pownall's enemies displayed, with considerable suc- 
cess, to the minds of the members of the legislature, the 
enormous expense to the Province of the monument to 
Lord Howe, which had cost ^250. The project fell 
through, and it has been said that if Governor Pownall 
had remained longer it would have been a powerful in- 
strument for destroying his popularity. Pownall went to 
South Carolina in June, 1760, after two years' residence 
in Massachusetts. 

The tradition is also preserved of another proposition 
to decorate the vicinity of the Town House. A writer in 
one of the magazines many years ago, said : "In some 
old pamphlet we recollect a proposal to erect an eques- 
trian statue of the ' glorious King William ' in front of the 
Town House, looking down King Street. It would have 
been pleasant to have had an historic monument, of any 
kind, in that street of historic recollections. Even the 
Whig monarch, however, would hardly have kept his 
saddle through the Revolution, though himself a Revo- 
lutionary King." 

The chambers were all plain in construction, and their 
fittings and furniture simple in character, with probably 
hardly a touch of extravagance anywhere. 

The Council Chamber was furnished with a large table 
and chairs, and one or more glazed bookcases stood in 
the room, in which were preserved with care some valu- 
able books which had been presented by liberal citizens 
and friends of the Province, among which I may mention 
the Hon. Benj. Lynde's gift of the Statutes at Large in 
six volumes folio, for the use of the Courts of Common 
Law sitting in this House, as well as the Legislature ; 
and a complete set of the History and Proceedings of 
the Houses of Lords and Commons from the Reign of 
King Charles the II., viz. : eight volumes of the Proceed- 



1 6 TJic Old State House in Boston. 

ings of the Lords and fourteen of the Proceedings of the 
Commons, from Isaac Royal, Esq.,' of Charlestown. 

The Royal Arms, also, which were subsequently re- 
moved and carried to St. John, N. \\., where they now 
decorate a church, must have been a conspicuous feature 
in the Chamber. With reference to this subject and 
another intimately connected with it, as will appear, I 
think you will pardon me if I go back a little to recall 
a few memories of the first and second Town Houses 
which were burned. 

As early as May 25, 1636, or during the May session 
of the General Court, it was ordered that in "places of 
judicature, the King's ma"" amies shalbe erected soe 
sone as they can be hadd." {Mass. A'eeort/s : 175.) But 
notwithstanding this " order for ye King's armes to 
be set up," it is not probable that they were " to be 
hadd '' in that jurisdiction for a long time afterward — or 
that they soon became visible in the high places of judg- 
ment. 

It was not until 1678, when the agents of the General 
Court were struggling against their enemies at Court and 
warding off the blows levelled at their charter, that they 
were compelled to show their recognition of the royal 
authority by taking the oath of allegiance and exhibiting 
the ensigns armorial of England in their hall of assembly. 
The records state that " the King's armes also the Court 
have ordered to be forthwith carved by an able artist and 
erected in the Court House." I suppose this is all we can 
hope to know about the arms or the artist. 

Ikit in 1705, we come upon nearer and a /itt/e surer 
ground, (jovernor Dudley, in a letter to the Lords of 
Trade, March 10, 1705 — quoted by l^alfrey : iv. 295 note, 
says : 

" 1 have received her ]\Iajest)''s picture and coat-of- 
arms. The arms were the next day fixed in the Council 
Chamber of this Province . . . Her Majesty's pict- 
ure I ha\X' set up in my own house, where it is alwa\-s in 



The Old State House in Boston. ly 

the view of all masters of sea, strangers, and others who 
are bound to make their attendance; and wliere the coun- 
sellors and gentlemen of the country frequently are." 

I have not discovered how long Dudley kept the 
Queen's portrait at his own house in Roxbury^ — but it 
was placed in the Town House where it belonged before 
the fire in 171 1 in which that house was destroyed. The 
Royal Picture Gallery thus seems to have had its origin 
in the time of Queen Anne. Chalmers states that Queen 
Anne gave her portrait to every colony ; and more than 
intimates a degree of churlishness in Massachusetts on its 
reception there. " A trivial fact throws additional light 
on the temper of that assembly : [i 706-7] they refused to 
address the queen, in return for her portrait, wherewith 
she had honored every colony, though the compliment, 
demanded by the civility of a woman, far less the respect 
due to the condescension of their sovereign, had impugned 
no privilege, had imposed no duty, had enforced no act 
of Parliament." Introduction to the Histoty of the Col- 
onies : 310. 

This portrait escaped destruction in the great fire of 
171 1, in which "the Town House and the Meeting 
House, with many fair Buildings were consumed, and 
several Persons Kill'd and burn'd. Some Gentlemen took 
care to preserve Her Ulajcsty's Picture that zvas in the 
Toivn Housed Boston Nczvs Letter : No. 390. October 
1-8, 171 1. 

I have met with no record of the fate of the portraits of 
the Queen sent to other colonies. Only among the ar- 
chives of Virginia, indeed, have I as yet found any notice 
whatever of so conspicuous and interesting a gift. This 
appears in the shape of a bill of charges from the at- 
torneys of Col. Francis Nicholson, then Governor, for 
expenses in England attending the gift. They are em- 
bodied in an " Account of the charges for Obtaining the 
Queen's Picture and Queen's Amies, with two Carved 
guilt Frames, for her Majestie's Province of Virginia, 



1 8 TJic Old State House in Boston. 

17O73 For an order of Councill for the Picture. . £2 126 

p'' for a Copy to Com" of Trade 5 

For ditto for Queen's Amies to L'' Mar- 
shall 2 12 6 

p'' for a Copy to Com"' of Trade 5 

1703 For y'' L'' Chamberlaine's 3 Warr'" to \ 

S' G. Kneller f 

> 2 3 
April 20th L*' Montague & her Maj'"' P^rame i 

Maker / 

p'' Clerk's P'^ees 15 

p'' Chamber Keeper 26 

June 9th p"" Fees at Treasury for Counter Signe- 
ing L'' Chamberlaine's Warr' for 2 Arms, 
Etc., En'^-^' 17 6 

July 5th p'' gave S' G. Kneller's chief man Mr. 
Bland, Clerk at y'' Wardrobe, frame 
maker's Serv' w"' Cartage, Porters, and 
Boat hyre to Key 2 

It is fair to say that these charges, amounting in all to 
Eleven Pounds and Thirteen Shillings, on being sub- 
mitted to the Legislature of Virginia, were refused pay- 
ment, and the claim was " rejected as being no Country 
charge." It is painful to observe that if the sons of the 
Cavaliers were not more liberal with their thanks than 
with their money, Mr. Chalmers might have included 
them in the rebuke he recorded for the men of Massa- 
chusetts. 

Before the year 1739, the gallery had been enriched by 
the addition of the portraits of King (ieorge the P^irst 
and King George the Second, together with those of the 
then late Queen Caroline* and the Princess Sophia. t In 
June, 1739, the Province ordered copies of the pictures of 
King William and Queen Mary of glorious Memory to 

* Queen Caroline of Brandenburg Anspach, l>. 16S2 d. 1737. Wife of 
George II. in 1705, and grandmother of George III. 

\ Princess Sophia — sister of George II., wife of Frederic William I. of 
Prussia, and mother of Frederic the Great. 



TJie Old State House in Boston. 19 

be procured by their Agent in England from the best 
originals that can be found at full length, in order for 
their being set up in the Council Chamber with the pict- 
ures of their Majesties' Royal Successors. The resolu- 
tion did not omit to commemorate the fact that it was in 
the fourth year of the reign of William and Mary that 
" His Majesty's good Subjects of this Province were hap- 
pily incorporated by the present Royal Charter." 

The first Town House also contained the befjinnings of 
the first public library in America — for which provision 
was made in its original foundation by Capt. Robert 
Keayne directing " a convenient room for a library." 
Occasional notices may be found of this Library, showing 
that it had been established or begun ; and when the 
building was destroyed by fire in 171 1, portions of it ap- 
pear to have been saved, for when the new house was 
completed in 1713, the public were duly advised by ad- 
vertisement to the effect that " All persons that have in 
their keeping, or can give Notice of any of the Town Li- 
brary ; or other things belonging to the Town House in 
Boston before the late fire, are desired to inform the Treas- 
urer of the said Town thereof, in order to their being re- 
turned." — Boston Nexus Letter : No. 477. June 1-8, 1713. 

I have met with few notices of the Library in connection 
with the second Town House, and if any part was restored 
to that building — it must have perished in the fire of 1747, 
with all " the pictures of the Kings and Queens " which I 
have mentioned. 

In the new Court House — as in its predecessor — the 
Council Chamber was the Picture Room of the Provincial 
Capitol. President John Adams's distinct recollection and 
graphic description of it in his old age needs little addition 
— even in the inventory of the paintings. His glowing 
memories of the portraits of King Charles H. and King 
James H. in the account of Otis's argument against the 
Writs of Assistance in 1761 are supplemented by his no- 
tice of the later triumph of Samuel Adams in 1770, in 
which he condemns the little miserable likenesses of Gov 



20 TJie Old State House in Boston. 

Winthrop, Gov. Bradstreet, Gov. ICndicott, and Gov. Bel- 
cher, hung up in obscure corners of the room. Some of 
them met with a deplorable fate, first at the hands of the 
Tory and British mob, and afterwards, doubtless, from the 
iconoclastic zeal of the patriots. A proclamation by Gen. 
Howe, March 14, 1776, three days before the evacuation, 
directed among other things against depredations com- 
mitted in the Town House, mentions the cutting and 
defacing the pictures of the King and Queen, as well the 
destruction of records and other pictures. The pictures, 
however, of Winthrop, Kndicott, Leverett, Bradstreet and 
Burnet — which now hang in the Senate Chamber — are un- 
doubtedly the same so contemptuously described by John 
Adams, They must have been at a serious disadvantage 
side by side with the full lengths of the Kings in all their 
gorgeous array ; for with every disposition to admire 
them as monuments of the past, the lovers of high art in 
portraiture must be a little shaky in their presence even 
at this late day. 

I have notes of description, made by an intelligent and 
observing stranger in 1769. He says of the "decorations" 
at the Town House : " /;/ the Council Clianiber, the pict- 
ure of Charles the 2d ; James the 2d ; and George the 2d, 
at full length, and the copies of the pictures of Governor 
Winthrop, Governor Endicott, Governor Leverett, Gov- 
ernor Bradstreet, Governor Burnet, and the picture three- 
quarters of Governor Pownall. /// tJie Representatives 
Room, the picture of Admiral Russell, betwixt the zoindoT^'S 
above the Speaker s chair. There is carved above the door 
the ancient arms of the Province, and in the middle of the 
ceiling hangs a carved wooden codfisJi, Emblem of the 
staple of Commodities of the I'rovince." 

The Representatives' Chamber was similar to its neigh- 
boring apartment on the East — but provided with wooden 
seats or benches for the members, arranged on the sides of 
the room. In 1773, an order was made to provide cush- 
ions for these seats. The Speaker's chair was on the South- 
ern side, and in front of him was " the table," at which the 



The Old State House in Boston. 21 

Clerk only was also permitted to sit. A disposition seems 
to have been manifested on the part of somebody to 
encroach on this reservation — for the second of the Rules 
and Orders to be observed in the House of Representa- 
tion in 1775 and in ijjy expressly declares that "No 
Person shall sit at the Table, except the Speaker and 
Clerk." I fear that the Speaker's Desk, so carefully pre- 
served in the Cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical So- 
iety, and so admirably copied in facsimile for the other 
room, will have to be referred to a very late (if any) period 
of the legislative occupation of this building. 

" The Boston seat " must be specially noticed here. 
From the beginning of legislation under the Province 
Charter, Boston was entitled to four representatives, thrice 
as many as any other town — and " the Boston Seat" 
played an important part in everything that was done. It 
never failed to exercise a full share of influence in the 
House, which became more and more conspicuous as the 
era of the Revolution came on. 

It is very evident that '' the Boston seat " was a front 
seat — and I have reason to conclude that it was actually 
in the central division of benches on the North side of the 
Chamber, directly in front of the Speaker. It was known 
and recognized from an early date, and " the gentlemen 
of the Boston seat," or " the members of the Boston seat," 
are frequently mentioned as being charged with special 
services and duties. 

It seems to have been the only monopoly of the kind, 
and I can recall but one instance of an attempt to invade 
it. On the 30th May, 1754, the question was put, 
whether any particular seat in the House should be 
assigned to the members of the towns of Plyvioiitli and 
Salem. The presumptuous ambition of those towns, how- 
ever, was checked at once by a vote in the negative. 

The earliest decoration of which I have any certain date 
in the Representatives' Chamber was a Branch of Candle- 
sticks for its Service and Ornament, which was offered by 
Isaac Royal, of Charlestown, and accepted with the thanks 



22 The Old State House in Boston. 

of the House on the 23d April, 1748, immediately after 
the determination to rebuild the House. A subsequent 
reference to it by John Adams not only assures us that 
Mr. Royal's liberal intention was carried out, but that it was 
a " brass branch of candlesticks " which was duly put in 
place — directly over the table of the Speaker and Clerk. 

In 1750, the ancient Arms of the Colony, carved with 
great care and pains by Moses Deshon, who also gilded 
and painted the same, were put up in the House, " over 
the door." The artist was the same who had executed 
for the town, a few years before, the Faneuil Arms, ele- 
gantly carved and gilt, to be fixed in Faneuil Hall. The 
consideration (for which he appears to have waited more 
than two years), finally voted by the House, for the 
Colony Arms, was Six Pounds, Thirteen Shillings and 
Fourpence. 

I have no doubt that these ancient arms of the Colony 
were those which in a modified form were reproduced in 
the Arms of the Commonwealth in 1780. That Indian 
has a history. He is the survival of the original figure in 
the centre of the Colony Seal and Arms. 

A decoration of the Representatives' Chamber, much 
more interesting to me than any other I shall mention, 
was undoubtedly added at an early day, but I regret to 
say that I have been unable to fix the date of its first 
appearance. I dare say many of you will anticipate me, 
as I thus refer to what has been called '* the historic cod- 
fish."* 

The earliest notice I have of this interesting feature of 
the interior of the old Court House, is that of the intelli- 
gent stranger who visited the building in 1 769, and among 
other notes to which I hav^e had occasion to refer — he says 
" in t/ie middle of the eeilini^ hangs a earvcd loooden eod- 

* Tlie earliest official recognition of the codfisli I have met with is in the 
proclamation of Governor Shirley, setting forth the stamps to be used under 
tlie Provincial Stamp Act of 1755, in which the device for the twopenny 
stamp was ''« Codfish loitti a Motto in the Ring [round it] /;/ ttiese loords^ 
Stai'lk ok tiik Massaciujsktts." 



TJie Old State House in Boston. 23 

fish, Emblem of the staple of Commodities of the Prov- 
ince." 

I confess some degree of surprise that among the recent 
restorations, while the Lion and the Unicorn, strictly the 
emblems of royalty and needing no argument to justify 
their replacement, have been set up here over our heads, 
the ancient Arms of the Colony have been omitted — as 
well as the Codfish — emblems which have characterized 
the Representatives' Chamber through a greater number 
of years than any other objects which can be named, and 
with a propriety about which there can be no dispute. 

Were the Committee afraid of sneers from the ignorant 
at the homely image of a codfish ? They should have been 
proud of the historic emblem of the staple of her com- 
modities, which made Massachusetts prosperous and 
strong in the bone and sinew of her most hardy popula- 
tion. There never was a greater mistake than the assign- 
ment of the codfish as the badge of a spurious aristocracy. 
If there now is or ever was a creature inhabiting earth, 
air or water more thoroughly genuine and entirely valu- 
able than this unpretending denizen of the sea, I am yet 
to learn his name and condition, and I should like to be 
furnished with his " descriptive list." The cod has been a 
more important factor in the progress of geographical dis- 
covery and human civilization than most, if not all, of the 
Imperial and Royal Families of Western Europe since the 
Christian era. If Massachusetts really has a codfish aris- 
tocracy, she ought to cherish and be proud of it. But 
however that may be, the image that still hangs over the 
heads of your representatives deserves your respect and 
reverence. I envy you your right to claim it as the his- 
toric symbol of the prosperity of your best days of old ! 
It ought to be hanging from the centre of yonder ceiling 
to-day. 

The same authority which I have quoted respecting the 
place of the Colony Arms and the Codfish, also mentions 
the fact that the picture of Admiral Russell was between 
the windows above the Speaker's chair. I must confess 



24 The Old State House in Boston. 

that I should have been less surprised if it had been a pict- 
ure of Admiral Warren — although I have met with no 
notice of either ha\'ing at any time been procured by or- 
der of the General Court. Future researches may show 
how it was that the portrait of one of the first great naval 
heroes of England found a place on the walls of the Old 
Court House in Boston. 

Admiral Russell, afterwards the Earl of Oxford, was 
the hero of the Battle of La Hogue — " the first great 
check that had ever been given to the arms of Louis the 
14th, and the first great victory that the English had 
gained over the French since the day of Agincourt." "" 

Li 1765, a new feature was introduced in the Represent- 
atives' Chamber, of remarkable importance. On the mo- 
tion of James Otis, who with Mr. Hancock and Mr. Adams 
as a committee carried out the design, it was ordered 
that the debates of the House should be open ; and that a 
Gallery be erected on the Westerly side of the Chamber for 
the accommodation of such Persons as should be inclined 
to attend the same. It was further ordered that no Persons 
be admitted to a seat in the Gallery without applying to 
and being introduced by a Member of the House. The 
work was completed before the end of that political year, 
and the account of Thomas Crafts, Housevvright, for 
erecting a Gallery and other work done by order of the 
House was presented and allowed on the 17 March, 1767, 
amounting to ^^^15.6.5. " The gallery of the House " is 
among the places of dissipation of time in 1768 mentioned 

* It was tlie news of this great battle, received in Massacluisetts in the 
Witclicraft Time, whicli enabled Cotton Mather to empliasi/.e one of his 
prophetic utterances on that occasion : 

" [Since the making of this Conjecture there are arrived unto us, the News 
of a Victory obtained by the English over the Fretic/i^ which further con- 
firms our Conjecture ; and causes us to sing Pliaraoli's chariots and his Hosts, 
has the Lord cast down into the Sea; Thy riglit hand lias dashed in pieces the 
Enemy !J Now in the Salvation of England, the Plantations cannot but 
Rejoyce, and Nciv Eit-g/aitil also will be Glad.'''' Wonders: Ed. Lond. 
1693: 4to. 

The Battle was on the 19th May, 1692 — and the intelligence reached New 
England in the late summer or early autumn of that eventful year. 



The Old State House in Boston. 25 

in tlie Diary of John Adams, ii. 209. It was afterwards en- 
larged with the Chamber itself — as I shall presently show. 

As the limits of this paper will not admit of my passing 
beyond 1776, when the General Court returned to the 
State House, after the evacuation of Boston — I will men- 
tion here the fact that in 1791 a resolve was introduced in 
the House for the purpose of opening a gallery to the 
Senate Chamber in order that the people of the Common- 
wealth might be more satisfactorily informed of the doings 
of their delegates in Senate. 

A public gallery was an emphatic novelty in the his- 
tory of legislative bodies. In England the House of Com- 
mons was for a long time a secret assembly : the first step 
towards publicity was to cause its acts, addresses and reso- 
lutions to be printed. This step was taken by the Long 
Parliament under Charles I. Under Charles II. its proceed- 
ings again became secret ; some individuals demanded, 
but in vain, the publication of the acts passed by the House 
— the demand was resisted as dangerous. It Avas not till 
the eighteenth century that visitors were allowed to be 
present at the sittings of the English Parliament : this is 
not now granted as a right, and the demand of a single 
member who appeals to the ancient law, is sufficient to 
clear the gallery. 

Hutchinson, in his summary of the progress of " the 
popular branch of the legislature" towards "a greater 
proportion of power than it had ever possessed before," 
refers to this admission of the public to their debates 
as an important element of disaffection. He says, 
"although the following novelty cannot be mentioned 
as an instance of their assuming what they had no right 
to, yet it gave them great additional weight and influ- 
ence over the people ; they had caused a gallery to 
be built, and opened, that all persons who inclined to it 
might hear their debates ; and a speech, well adapted to 
the gallery, was oftentimes of more service to the cause 
of liberty than if its purport had been confined to the 
members of the house.'' 



26 TJie Old State House in Boston. 

With respect to the Court Chamber, 1 have no particu- 
lar knowledge of its arrangement. It continued from the 
beginning to be occupied by the Ct)urts of Law until 
March, 1769, when the first Court was held in the New 
Court Mouse, of which Governor l^ernard furnished the 
plans, being a skilful architecit. 

It had been proposed as early as January 1 1, 1764, to 
purchase the West end of the Court House from the County 
of Suffolk and Town of Boston for the better accommo- 
dation of the General Assembly. Ikit a week later the 
small-pox drove the Legislature to Cambridge, and this 
movement, like several other matters of concern to that 
Assembl}', appears to have subsided for the time. The 
determination to build a new house for the Courts and a 
new Gaol induced an application to the legislature for aid 
from the Suffolk County authorities — who were ready to 
dispose of their interest in this building — as also were the 
Selectmen of the Town of Boston. The matter continued 
to be discussed in 1766 and 1767, and representatives of 
the parties in interest were accorded special hearings on 
the floor of the House. Nothing came of it, however, 
until after the war of the Revolution was in full career. 

You are all familiar with the desecration of the Court 
House by its military use and abuse during the eventful 
years of Gov. Bernard's administration, and the deep-seated 
indignation of the people of Boston, which was so impor- 
tant an element in the beginning of the struggle that 
terminated the British rule here. 

In June, 1769, the General Court having refused to go 
on with the business of legislation, in view of the military 
occupation, and under the guns of the Main Guard, which 
were planted opposite the doors of the Court House — as 
it were, at the points of bayonets and mouths of cannon 
—the Governor took them at their word and adjourned 
the Court to meet the next day — June i6th, at Cambridge. 
It was no softening of this blow to the House, but it 
was with pain that they were obliged to observe that the 
very night after this adjournment was made, the cannon 



The Old State House in Boston. 27 

were removed from the Court House and put on board a 
vessel for Halifax. 

Among the resolves of the 29tli June, read and cor- 
rected July 7, 1769, etc., is the following : 

'■'Resolved, That \\\\oq\'&x gave Order {ox Quartering cyqw 
Common Soldiers and Camp Women in the Court House 
in Boston, and in the Representatives' Chajnber, where 
some of the principal Archives of the Government had 
been usually deposited, making a Barrack of the same, 
placing a Main Guard with cannon pointed near the said 
House and Sentinels at the Door, designed a high Insult 
and a triumphant Indication that the Military power was 
Master of the whole Legislative." 

In the Petition to the King, 1769, it is said, "Your 
Majesty's said Governor . . . ordered the very Room 
wJiieJi is appropriated for the Meeting of the Repre- 
sentatives of the General Assembly, and ivas never used 
for any other Purpose, and where their Reeords are kept, 
to be employed as a Barrack for the Common Soldiers : 
And the Centinels were so posted as that your Majesty's 
Council, and the Justices of the Courts of Common Law, 
were daily interrupted and even ehallenged in their Pro- 
ceeding to the Business of their several Departments." 

January 9th, 1773. Upon a motion. Ordered, That Mr. 
Speaker, Mr. Hancock, Mr. Bacon, and Major Hawlcy, be 
a Committee to inspect the State of this Building and re- 
port what Repairs are necessary. 

This was soon after the opening of the Court upon its 
return from the Cambridge exile — the fourth day of the 
second session of the General Court of 1772-73. Nearly 
four years had passed since the Legislature had been com- 
pelled to meet elsewhere than in their " ancient and con- 
venient seat," constantly and vainly struggling against 
their removal and exile as an arbitrary violation of their 
Charter rights. 

February 2d. The Committee appointed to inspect 
the State of the Court House, reported. 

And thereupon it was Ordered, That the Speaker, Mr. 



28 TIic 0/(f State House in Boston. 

Hancoek, and Mr. Adams, with such as the Honorable 
Board shall join, be a Committee to see to the necessary 
repairs of the Court House, and to agree with a Painter 
to paint the Rooms in which the Council and House of 
Representatives sit in General Assembly. 

The Legislature sat until March 6, 1773 — so that there- 
pairs were probably made between that date and May, 
when the new Court assembled. 

June 29th, iTTl- Upon a motion, Ordered, Tiiat the 
Committee appointed to see to the necessary repairs of 
the State House, provide cushions for the several seats in 
this room. 

It is a noteworthy fact that these repairs of 1773 which 
elicited this little demonstration of a desire on the part of 
the House for comfort (if not luxury) in sitting were so little 
enjoyed under the old regime — the Chamber being occu- 
pied afterwards by the Legislature of the Province only a 
few months, terminating with the first four days of its brief 
existence in 1774 — May 25th to 28th, when Gage ad- 
journed the session to meet at Salem on the seventh of 
June. 

On this occasion also the name of " State House" first 
appears, although it did not come immediately into com- 
mon use. But it attracted the notice of Governor Hutch- 
inson, who mentions it in his history as an illustration of 
the change in the style and language of the General As- 
sembly, which he attributes to Samuel Adams, whose 
" attention to the Cause in which he was engaged would 
not suffer him to neglect even small circumstances, which 
could be made subservient to it. '" 

Immediately after the British evacuation of Boston 
measures were taken to cause such repairs to be made in 
the State House as were necessary to fit it for the recep- 
tion of the General Court. i\ difficulty was apparent at 
once in providing accommodation for the Representatives, 
who now numbered more than 200. On the 8th April, a 
special committee was charged to inquire and report 
whether the Chamber in the Town House in Boston, 



The Old State Ho?ise in Boston. 29 

which had been used by the Courts for the County of 
Suffolk, could be purchased for the use of the House of 
Representatives, that the Partition between it and the 
Representatives' Room in said House may be taken down 
and the two Rooms made into one, and what would be the 
Expense thereof. Another Committee appointed to treat 
with a Committee of the Justices of the County of Suffolk 
in the following June, reported an offer on the part of the 
County to sell their interest to the Colony for the sum of 
one thousand pounds. 

In the following October, however, the Justices by 
formal order of Court tendered to the Great and General 
Assembly of the State the Chamber in the Old Court 
House in which the Courts of Law formerly sat, upon con- 
dition that the State should allow such a sum therefor to 
the County as the Great and General Assembly should 
determine to be just and reasonable. 

A committee was forthwith despatched to view the 
premises and report what was proper to be done, and on 
the i8th October, 1776, Daniel Davis, Esq., brought 
down from the honorable board Mr. Commissary Smith's 
account, with the report of a Committee of both Houses 
thereon, via. : 

"The Committee appointed to view the Representa- 
tives' Chamber, and the County Chamber thereto ad- 
joining, and to report what is necessary to be done in 
order to accommodate the House of Representatives, 
reported as follows, viz. : The Committee find that the 
present Chamber will accommodate 150 members, by 
shutting up the west door, and erecting a few seats ; but 
as the present House of Representatives consists of 
more than 200 Members, your Committee think it best 
that the partition betwixt the Representatives' Chamber 
and the County Chamber should be removed within 11 
feet of the west end of the Court House ; and that the 
stairs go up in the north-west corner of said House ; and 
that the said 1 1 feet be improved for a lobby and entry- 
way ; and that over the same be a gallery, to accommo- 



30 The Old State House in Boston. 

date spectators, agreeable to the plan herewith exhibited ; 
the whole of which your Committee think may be com- 
pleted for about forty pounds. All which is humbly sub- 
mitted. W. Story, per order:' 

Read and accepted, and thereupon Ordered, That the 
said Committee make the alterations proposed, or such 
alterations as they shall judge best. 

Voted, That the Great and General Court be removed 
into Ikxston, as soon as they can with safety. 

October 19. \\)ted, That Mr. Otis be of the Committee 
appointed to enlarge the Representatives' Chamber in the 
Court House in Boston, in the room of Mr. Partridge, 
excused. 

November 9. On motion, ]\}ted, at the desire of the 
House, that when this Court shall be adjourned, it be ad- 
journed to the Court House in l^oston. 

Ordered, That a message go to the major part of the 
Council to desire them to adjourn this Court to Tuesday 
next [Nov. 12th], at ten o'clock in the forenoon, then to 
meet at the Court House in Boston. 

The session ended on the same day. and the adjourn- 
ment took ])lace from Watertown to meet accordingly at 
the Court House in Boston. 

Mr. Prksidext, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have to thank 
you sincerely for your attention, on which I will trespass 
but a little longer. When these Halls were dedicated to 
the memories of the past on the lOth of October, 1882, your 
President generously recognized the interest of the patri- 
otic men of the whole country in the historic monuments 
which it is the object of this Society to preserve— and the 
description ha[)[)ily given to this place at the same time 
by your learned and accomplished fellow-citizen (the Rev. 
Dr. William ICverett) as " the Mecca of our land " has a 
tone of invitation to all true believers in the genuine his- 
toric fame of Boston and its Old State House. William 
Sullivan, as long ago a.s 1824, took occasion " to express 
some regret, that in this changing and improving age. 



The Old State House in Boston. 31 

there was not an historical society for the city, to notice 
and record things of early days which are everywhere 
faUing around us." That want is now happily supplied, 
and fortunately not too late to preserve all that remains 
of the ancient Prytaneum Bostoniense : "The Old 
State House": which has been known as "The Town 
House in Boston" — "The Court House in Boston" — 
" The Province Court House " — " The State House " and 
" The City Hall." It was a proverb of Athens that the 
doors of the Prytaneum would keep out no stranger. 
And that famous city exercised in its town-house the 
duties of hospitality both to its own citizens and strangers. 
The Prytaneum of the ancient Greek city was the home 
of the state — and as in private houses a fire was kept up 
on the domestic altar in the inner court, so a perpetual 
fire was kept burning on the public altar of the city in 
the Town Wowsq— the focus ov pcnetrale nrbis. From the 
ever-burning fire of the prytaneum or home of the mother 
state, Avas carried the sacred flame which was to be kept 
burning in those of her colonies, and if it happened that 
this was ever extinguished, it was rekindled from that of 
the parent city. 

If hereafter, throughout the length and breadth of this 
broad land, the magnificent domain of the United States 
of America, the sacred fire of Freedom shall sink and go 
out upon the hearth-stones of any of the communities 
which have risen and grown strong in her light, but have 
neglected to watch, and tend, and keep it burning clear 
and bright — let their messengers come hither and re- 
cover the spark to rekindle the flame from within these 
old walls, which still respond in sympathetic echoes to 
every voice that tells of the glories of her ancient priest- 
hood, and repeats the ritual of that pristine Faith which 
was and is and must forever be the rock of our political 
salvation — LIBERTY restrained and regulated by La\v. 



pr^taneum Boetoniense* 



NOTES 



ON THE HISTORY OF 



THE OLD STATE HOUSE 



FORMERLY KNOWN AS 



The Town House in Boston — The Court House in Boston 

— The Province Court House — The State 

House — and the City Hall 



BY 

GEORGE H. MOORE, LL.D. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LENOX LIBRARY 



Read before the BosTONlAN Society, Alay 12, 1885 



BOSTON : 
CUPPLES, UPHAM & CO. 

THE OLD CORNER BOOKSTORE. 
MDCCCLXXXV 

PRICE FIFTY CEXTS 



2 ^ ^- C' f <-^ 



I? 



lU 




